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Even with the presence of the consumer electronics giant Samsung and a strong R&D community, Korea’s MEMS ecosystem remains quite small. Among the top MEMS makers, not a single one is based in Korea. However, because of Samsung’s increasingly strong presence in the consumer electronics business, as well as the country’s established high technology base, there may be compelling reasons for the Korean MEMS industry to grow in the near future. GMEMS, a small MEMS foundry, claims to be the only commercial production facility in Korea. We recently spoke with Dr. Scott Lee, the CEO of the company. In this interview, Dr. Lee presents an overview of some of the key MEMS companies and organizations in Korea, as well as the history, current status, and vision of his company.

X-FAB Silicon Foundries announced this week that it has reached a major milestone in further expanding its MEMS manufacturing capabilities in two of its German locations, Erfurt and Itzehoe. According to the company, driven by increased customer demand for MEMS manufacturing services, the expansion includes two new dedicated MEMS fabs with cleanroom space totaling more than 2,000 square meters (21,500 square feet). MEMS devices manufactured at X-FAB include pressure sensors, micro-mirrors, microphones and microfluidic devices used in mobile, consumer, medical and automotive applications. Customers requiring CMOS and MEMS solutions also benefit from access to X-FAB's existing CMOS wafer fabrication facilities.

The marketplace for MEMS foundry services is getting increasingly more competitive and globalized. Recently, large companies such as TSMC and GLOBALFOUNDRIES have been more aggressive in the MEMS space and, perhaps, are even subsidizing some projects to get more experience with the relevant process technologies. At the same time, intellectual property (IP) protection is becoming even more important due to the commoditization of some MEMS devices, especially in the consumer electronics segment. We recently spoke with Edvard Kälvesten, CEO of Silex Microsystems, to discuss his vision for the company, some of the recent changes that were made, his main concerns at this time, and the upcoming milestones for the company in the next few years.